I've started dreaming

Disclaimer – Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is copyright of Silicon Knights and Crystal Dynamics.  Sluggy Freelance is property of Pete Abrams.  Please visit Sluggy Freelance, it's quite funny.  www.sluggy.com

Note – This story takes place during the "The Bug, the Witch, and the Robot" storyline in Sluggy Freelance.  I read that and got inspired to write this.  If anyone out there is interested in this story, let me know so I can make time in my life to write more.  Thank you.

Sluggy Reaver

Chapter One:  The Dreamtide

I've started to dream.

It strikes me as odd, for all the changes I've gone through, I still have to follow some of the basics of life; I need to eat and sleep. Then again, I highly doubt that the old prophets and scholars would consider the devouring of my enemies souls as "eating". As for sleep, I can go without it for two, three days at most, but eventually I need respite.

When I slept, I never dreamt. Until now.

What I witnessed in my dream were the faces of those of my past. The Elder, who brought me back from the netherworld and gave me a second chance for revenge. My fallen brothers, slain by my hand.  Ariel, the guardian specter of the Pillars, guiding me. The hordes of creatures that I have fought and destroyed. Moebius, the Time Streamer. And Kain, always Kain. The bastard who raised me up from the dead and later cast me down into the Abyss, into seeming oblivion. What is he up to? After our confrontation in the Chronoplast, it seemed that Kain didn't cast me into the Lake of the Dead out of jealousy, but then if so, why? Is he planning to use me as a tool, as Moebius tricked Kain into starting the vampire holocaust?

Then, something else. I felt myself falling, ever falling down towards nothingness. As I held to my ruined wings to slow my descent, I saw the ground beneath me, and it was in the shape and form of a woman. It was like a giant lady was sleeping amidst the rocks and dirt of the ground. As I fell further, I saw the woman's body was translucent, and an oily blackness had consumed the great majority of her inner self. My descent brought me ever closer to her, until when I passed through her pale skin. I saw what looked like the earth beneath me, but the most of it was covered in that evermoving oil. There was only one small patch of earth that was not covered, and the black substance was trying to engulf it, but was being held back somehow. When I landed on the safe ground. I heard a shriek of ungodly horror. I saw what seemed to be a monster, a daemon formed of that black ooze which had overwhelmed the earth. As he turned, I saw the woman that I had fallen into stuck in that black mass. It seemed that the beast was trying to absorb her into itself, and somehow I knew if that would occur, the woman's soul would be utterly destroyed and the demon would have full control of the body of the EarthWoman.

I would have left this twisted scene, but then the woman (Gwynn, her name is Gwynn) opened her eyes, looked me square, and softly moaned.

"Help me."

I don't know why, but the sadness in her eyes and the pity in her voice moved me. I summoned my WraithBlade; the Soul Reaver merged with myself, and ran towards the beast.

When that thing (The Vowelless, the Collector) saw me, it yelled in a voice of gravely hatred. "What's this?  You dare to stop me! This vessel is mine! Mine forevermore! And no one, not that idiot, that tinkerer, not even the Storm Breaker herself can stop me! And what chance do you have, pathetic shell of a creature that you are!"

But as that thing saw me charge, I saw the pompousness replaced by fear. "What are you? Step back! Away from me, foul devouring thing!"

We dueled, that monster and I. I had to watch my attacks carefully, lest I hit the girl (Who are you, why you can hear me?) still stuck in the demon's mass. I was distracted somehow (Find the others! They can help you!) and the beast (K Z K?) struck me with such force that I landed in the black ooze that surrounded us. As it gripped me and pulled me down, as I sank into black nothingness, I still remembered that girl, fighting for her soul against that monster.

{Milady, Gwynn, where are you?}

(Worlds away, yet as close as your breath.)

{What does that mean? How can I save you?}

(Just as you walk the paths of the Spectral Realms, sir {Raziel, I am Raziel}, so do I walk the roads of the Dreamtide. You are strong, but the bug (K'Z'K) is greater still.)

{How can I stop that thing? [You can't, twisted wretch that you are!  Don't bother me!] }

(Riff, Torg, Zoë, find my friends, they can help you. Hurry, I am weakening…)

And I awake.

I still cannot figure out what I witnessed, but I know what must be done. That demon, K'Z'K, must be slain before he corrupts the girl, Gwynn, completely. She gave me the names of three of her allies who could grant me aid. I must work with haste.

I have come to the Chronoplast, that strange device that Moebius had created to cross the gulfs of time. With a bit of experimenting, I believe I can work it. With that, and by traversing the Spectral Reams, I hope that I can locate the realm where Gwynn is.

As I step through the Chronoplast and feel the pulls of eternity at me, I hone my Reaver blade and think the same two thoughts.

To Gwynn, stay strong, I will protect you.

To K'Z'K, demon, your time will soon come.